Our daughter Hailey was diagnosed with Leukodystrophy in 2011, a terminal brain disease. There is no cure or treatment. In January of 2015 she had a Pacemaker placed. There are medical bills, prescriptions not covered by insurance, Dr. Appointments out of state, and surprise expenses that would take a toll on any family. One way to share our story is to share jewelry we created together. There are many places we want to take her.
Each necklace signifies a Hug for Hailey.

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Celebrating Halloween all October LONG!

Hailey and I (Mom) really LOVE Halloween! This year we decided to take Hailey to Disneyland with our season passes and check out Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween. Combining two things we love, Halloween and Disneyland!! I think the first week in October was when we kicked off Halloween festivities and it really did last ALL month long!

Disneyland was amazing as always and being October it was HOT outside! It always takes us a few days to do Disneyland and we still never do everything we plan to do. We take LOTS of breaks and we can't be in that sun for long periods of time with Hailey, so often we take turns standing in line while the other parent is with Hailey in the shade or in the AC "shopping." This place puts Hailey in such a happy mood. She is giddy with everything she sees and does.

This was our first time checking out the Halloween Party at Disneyland and it was pretty incredible, but I have to be honest...There is absolutely NO way to do everything in the short amount of time you have. We really wanted to see characters but the lines were SO long that it's hard to wait in line for an hour for one character! We didn't even get to see Mickey Mouse! There was no way that we were going to get to see them all and that was a bummer, but we did our best taking turns in lines and luckily it cooled down at night so that Hailey could sit in her wheelchair and wait. I just think it's harder on a medically fragile child since there is so much more that goes into taking a child like Hailey. There is only 1 first aid station where we can take Hailey to change her diaper and going back and forth multiple times is exhausting and time consuming. So glad we have such a great relationship with the cast members that they see us struggling and offer to help.

Hailey could go to Disneyland everyday and never get board but we had to head back home because Halloween wasn't done yet...

We planned different activities throughout the month and one activity we planned was making Halloween masks with Grandma. Hailey is all about sparkles and glitter and coincidentally so is grandma.

Pumpkin carving is out of the question so we put Mr. Potato Head parts in our pumpkins. Hailey thought that was a great idea and loved looking at her creation all month long!

I asked around to see where all the Free Halloween events were and Josh was nice enough to take us to each one we wanted to go to. There were a LOT! One event we went to Hailey got ANOTHER pumpkin and she was thrilled! We sure did get great use out of her Halloween costume!

Another activity I planned was Halloween treats. We had lots of fun making treats but we weren't going to eat any of them so we packed them up and gave them to Hailey's Therapists and they enjoyed them.

Hailey's favorite event was one she was able to go to with her cousin.

It's not Halloween without the Boo Bash at the Chocolate factory. What child doesn't LOVE trick or treating at a chocolate factory. Hailey loves m&m's!

Hailey had a ton of fun the whole month of October and I was having fun dressing her up and seeing her smile. Yes I tend to go a bit overboard but why not? I don't mind it and Hailey loves it. It's all about memories!